New flood maps could arrive within two weeks

Monday

HOUMA -- FEMA officials say local residents should be aware but not overly concerned about the pending release of new flood-insurance rate maps for Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

But parish officials say they’re still keeping on guard until the final maps are released in as soon as two weeks.

"I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions until the maps come out," said Mike Hunnicutt, a deputy section chief with FEMA. "We are providing the public with the best available data that we have currently, and it is for their use for developing and growing their parish."

Hunnicutt said he did not yet know the exact release date of the new digital maps. Terrebonne and Lafourche are the last parishes in coastal Louisiana to receive them; they haven’t been updated since the 1980s.

Early study maps issued four months ago raised alarm with officials in Terrebonne, said Pat Gordon, parish planning-and-zoning director, because they show most of the parish in the highest class of flood zone.

In Lafourche, early study maps had shown the Larose-to-Golden Meadow levee not counting toward flood protection in that parish, meaning new flood-insurance policies would cost significantly more and new structures would have to be elevated as high as 12 feet off the ground in the parish’s southern reaches.

But Hunnicutt said he hasn’t heard of any levees being deceritified by the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that would have to

maps, continue on 6A

make that decision.

"They had preliminary concepts of what could happen (with the final maps we release), but that’s all they were looking at," Hunnicutt said.

He stressed that the maps have been worked on since FEMA representatives met with local parish officials.

"Those maps showed a variety of elevations, and it was more of a fact-finding type of meeting, he said.

Hunnicutt expressed concern that there’s been so much talk about what’s on the maps before they’re even released, including the state convening a working group led by local Interim Levee Director Windell Curole.

"I don’t want the public to think that FEMA is shoving these things down their throats," he said. "This is an ongoing process."

New maps are being implemented across the state and the country in the same way, he added.

But reacting to the possibility that their levee in south Lafourche might be decertified by the corps is necessary, Curole said.

"When you’re not sure what’s going to happen, you do everything you can to mitigate the negative impacts," he said.

In Terrebonne, Gordon said, worries have caused developers to wait and see what the final FEMA maps will hold.

"It has slowed development in Terrebonne Parish, especially south of the Intracoastal, because developers don’t know how high they’ll need to elevate down there," he said.

Gordon said he can only base his opinions on the study maps that were presented to the parish months ago, "but based on those, we have some serious concerns," he said.

FEMA could have amended the maps since then, "but the maps that we saw and reviewed were not acceptable, and I’m sure we would appeal them," Gordon said.

FEMA shared early maps with parish officials to get their input, Hunnicutt said.

The parishes have been given time to challenge elevation data they thought was wrong, and both parishes did so, he added.

"There were some study maps where, on some areas, FEMA and the corps had some discrepancies, so some of those areas may be corrected," Hunnicutt said. "They have a timeframe involved where they can dispute the elevations and data."

An open house will be held after the maps’ release, and FEMA representatives from all parts of the process will be in attendance to answer questions and address any concerns.

FEMA officials will help you locate your home or business on the map, note any changes from the previous maps and ask questions about zoning and flood-insurance price changes.

No firm date has been set for the open house.

If you disagree with the flood risk assigned to your property, you have 90 days to protest to FEMA.

Lafourche and Terrebonne have about a year to adopt the maps and are not required to do so, Hunnicutt said. However, maps must be adopted if the parish wants to enroll in the National Flood Insurance Program -- the only place home and business owners can get flood insurance.

If the maps are adopted, Hunnicutt conceded that there will be repercussions for some residents.

"The people have the right to be informed of what risk exists for their property and to the area they live in," Hunnicutt said.

In particular, he said, new homes in businesses in areas where the flood risk is found to be more severe will have to build higher than they would have before the maps were adopted.

Older structures will be grandfathered in and won’t have to elevate.

If you don’t have flood insurance, and you find yourself in a higher flood-hazard zone, the cost of gaining that insurance could increase.

But if you already have a flood insurance policy, Hunnicutt added, your rate will stay the same.

"There will be a timeframe (after the maps are released and before the parish adopts them) where you can purchase flood insurance and get in on the ground floor and save yourself some money," Hunnicutt said.

Curole said no matter what the maps say, it is a reality in Terreonne and Lafourche parishes that people should build as high as they can build, buy flood insurance and invest in good community hurricane-protection systems.

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